Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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In The Expedition Of D'Entrecasteaux, A Common Swallow
Was Seen 60 Leagues Distant From Cape Blanco; But This Was Towards
The End Of October, And M. Labillardiere Thought It Had Newly
Arrived From Europe.
We crossed these latitudes in June, at a
period when the seas had not for a long time been agitated by
tempests.
I mention this last circumstance, because small birds and
even butterflies, are sometimes forced out to sea by the
impetuosity of the winds, as we observed in the Pacific ocean, when
we were on the western coast of Mexico.
The Pizarro had orders to touch at the isle of Lancerota, one of
the seven great Canary Islands; and at five in the afternoon of the
16th of June, that island appeared so distinctly in view that I was
able to take the angle of altitude of a conic mountain, which
towered majestically over the other summits, and which we thought
was the great volcano which had occasioned such devastation on the
night of the 1st of September, 1730.
The current drew us toward the coast more rapidly than we wished.
As we advanced, we discovered at first the island of Forteventura,
famous for its numerous camels;* (* These camels, which serve for
labour, and sometimes for food, did not exist till the Bethencourts
made the conquest of the Canaries. In the sixteenth century, asses
were so abundant in the island of Forteventura, that they became
wild and were hunted. Several thousands were killed to save the
harvest. The horses of Forteventura are of singular beauty, and of
the Barbary race. - "Noticias de la Historia General de las Islas
Canarias" por Don Jose de Viera, tome 2 page 436.) and a short time
after we saw the small island of Lobos in the channel which
separates Forteventura from Lancerota. We spent part of the night
on deck. The moon illumined the volcanic summits of Lancerota, the
flanks of which, covered with ashes, reflected a silver light.
Antares threw out its resplendent rays near the lunar disk, which
was but a few degrees above the horizon. The night was beautifully
serene and cool. Though we were but a little distance from the
African coast, and on the limit of the torrid zone, the centigrade
thermometer rose no higher than 18 degrees. The phosphorescence of
the ocean seemed to augment the mass of light diffused through the
air. After midnight, great black clouds rising behind the volcano
shrouded at intervals the moon and the beautiful constellation of
the Scorpion. We beheld lights carried to and fro on shore, which
were probably those of fishermen preparing for their labours. We
had been occasionally employed, during our passage, in reading the
old voyages of the Spaniards, and these moving lights recalled to
our fancy those which Pedro Gutierrez, page of Queen Isabella, saw
in the isle of Guanahani, on the memorable night of the discovery
of the New World.
On the 17th, in the morning, the horizon was foggy, and the sky
slightly covered with vapour.
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